As Marko stepped through the portal, slouching under Ishmir’s dead weight, he had been expecting to see an ocean of carnage with a single alicorn standing among it.
What he saw did not disappoint.
A carpet of bodies littered the platform before the portal. The remains of a hunter lay eviscerated to one side, a little piece of armor melted into the deck here, a puddle of orange viscera there. The shield once mounted to the walking tank’s arm was shorn clean in two, laying discarded in a pool of blood.
Twilight Sparkle stood up to her belly in alien blood, her MA5C levitated to one side, her pistol hovering by the other side. The weapons bobbed as she breathed heavy to catch her breath. Her helmet smoked with a smoldering scorch mark along the side, and she was either ignoring the heat of the blast that had nearly taken her head off or she just didn’t care.
She focused on dumping empty or partially spent magazines and conjured full mags in their place before holstering the weapons to her sides again.
She lifted her gaze, but not to look at Marko. He figured the sight of Ishmir’s body was probably too painful to see. Instead the alicorn looked up to the sky to notice the air was clear of hostile fliers.
While Flintlock had been fighting in the planet’s core, the fight for Equestria on the surface hadn’t stopped.
High above them the princesses had done a real number on the Covenant carrier. It listed ever so slightly to one side. There were hull-fires, bright sparks of blue and purple showering from the errant blazes. One of the glowing engine pods was leaking what looked like coolant and some of the craft’s skeletal structure was visible under a few breached hull-plates.
Both Princesses Luna and Celestia came descending from the sky like Valkyries over the battlefield, landing carefully among the eviscerated corpses.
Luna trotted overlooking weary. The battle she had just waged had clearly been a tough one. Marko wondered if it compared to what Flintlock had just been through.
“Twilight Sparkle, are you-…” she began to say with her head held proud until her hoof kicked something soft. Looking down she balked from a jackal torn in two and cauterized by what could have only been an intense beam of magic. Her eyes travelled upward and finally rested the dead bodies sprawling out from where Twilight stood as if she were at the epicenter of the devastation.
In truth, she had been.
“By the creator.” Luna looked to her sister, almost as if begging for help. Celestia’s face was a mask of concern as she watched Twilight closely, but she said nothing.
The wail of thousands of tiny anti-gravity generators caught their ears. The ponies lifted their heads and looked to one side. Rising out of a crevasse between two flat forerunner structures came a hazy cloud of silver orbs.
Sentinels, the same kind that had forced the Covenant beyond the portal into a retreat, rose up in a sprawling formation like an enormous flock of migrating birds. The cloud of sentinels curled around one of the towers, then swarmed towards the Covenant ship.
The subsonic thrum of the struggling engines rumbled in Marko’s chest cavity as the ship began to maneuver in the opposite direction.
The sentinels moved to engage none the less, and pinpoint laser artillery swatted many of them out of the air. But repercussions took the form of hundreds of golden lances cutting into the ship’s weakened shields. Portions of the energy bubble failed and the alien alloy underneath boiled away while the Covenant limped into orbit.
The outline became hazy at first, before the Covenant carrier vanished entirely from view, escaping to where the sentinels could not follow. Their prey having out run them, the forerunner automatons turned and returned to the structure, streaming by like they had before on their attack run, and disappeared politely into the nooks and crannies of the sprawling alien facility.
“The chieftain?” Marko asked as he moved up beside Twilight.
Twilight Sparkle shook her head, then nodded to the Covenant ship had gone. “He got away.”
It was only then that Celestia and Luna saw the headhunter with the bloodied figure draped over his shoulders. The younger regal sister gasped, raising a hoof to her mouth.
“Oh, no. Spartan Ishmir. Is he…?” she paused, somehow unable to finish her sentence.
“He’s dead,” Marko said, his voice cracking. Were it not for that crack it would be impossible to discern the Spartan’s flat tone from icy sociopathy. Looking up he gave the sky the Covenant ship fled into a long glare. “It’s over.”
Twilight Sparkle shook her head in disagreement. “No. It’s not over.” She was trembling with rage. It was evident in her fiery gaze and cold voice. “It’s not over until every one of those fuckers is dead…”
Four days later…
The days that followed passed slower than the days in the panic of battle in Twilight Sparkle’s opinion. She realized this was probably because she would sometimes spend hours at a time staring at a disassembled weapon or piece of armor on the table in front of her.
It had been Marko or Spike who usually reached out and patted her, drawing her out of her trance. Usually when Spike caught her staring he offered a warm hug and offered to make some hot cocoa. When Marko caught her he gave her a light swat upside the head and asked if she needed extra mags or gun grease.
Twilight had no idea which was a greater comfort.
Life seemed to go on around her though. Construction companies moved into Ponyville and Canterlot to assist with the extensive repair of damage done by the Covenant. The Royal Guard were deployed in mass, still picking off the odd alien straggler hiding in the forest or searching for those still missing.
Twilight had not seen reports on how many had died, but she quickly lost count of the sobs and cries that would drift in through the open library window.
Her friends tried their best to stick around as much as possible, but Twilight didn’t blame them for having to take off. Fluttershy was still helping search for lost pets and livestock. Rarity had generously transformed the boutique into a temporary shelter for ponies whose homes had been completely destroyed, even sewing blankets and tents around the clock for ponies who didn’t fit in her overcrowded home. Even Applejack and Rainbow Dash opened their homes as temporary shelters and spent their days assisting the Royal Guard in the grisly task of tallying the missing and dead. Pinkie Pie was completely swept off her hooves as well, doing her best to keep ponies motivated as she helped with getting food to as many hungry bellies as possible.
Everypony was doing their part in Equestria’s rebound from a terrible attack. Twilight Sparkle sometimes felt guilty, cooped up in her library tinkering with guns and armor, or sometimes hiding on the balcony and quietly bawling her eyes out. Princess Celestia insisted Twilight take personal time though.
“You’ve been through enough to protect us all,” Celestia had said. “It’s our turn to take care of you for a while.”
The fourth day after the Battle for Equestria ended was the end of Twilight’s rest period. It wasn’t because Marko had gotten antsy, itching to do something violent. It was because Twilight couldn’t stand being cooped up anymore. She couldn’t sit idly by knowing the Covenant who had attacked them were still out there, escaping back home to tell their friends what had happened. How they had swept in, ruined the lives of innocent ponies and then just took off again without retribution.
Twilight Sparkle had seared the image of the brute chieftain in her brain. She demanded justice. She demanded his blood.
Standing over Ishmir’s memorial, she couldn’t help glare.
“You okay?” Marko asked shortly, his voice muffled against the inside of his helmet. He didn’t even turn to look at her, just kneeling by her and staring at the memorial.
“I’m fine,” Twilight responded just as shortly.
She read the words engraved on the simple stone obelisk again and again.
G314. M.I.A.
Missing in Action. Marko had insisted Ishmir be labelled as missing rather than killed. Something about Spartan tradition. Twilight wasn’t sure she understood fully. She realized there wasn’t very much she understood about Ishmir really. She didn’t know where he had grown up, how many friend she had before Marko…
It was not knowing the trivial things that hurt her the most.
Standing, Twilight Sparkle looked across Ponyville square and stepped out of the shadow of the statue that stood in the center. Ishmir’s body had been transported to Canterlot where Celestia presided over a military funeral. Ishmir had received the highest honors Equestria was fit to give. It was good enough for Marko.
They had wanted to erect a statue of the Spartan in the Canterlot Gardens too, but Marko had talked them out of it. Spartans preferred to keep things modest. So Mayor Mare of Ponyville elected to put a small memorial to the fallen in Ponyville square. Ishmir’s stone stood beside the many others who had lost their lives in the Battle for Equestria.
Approaching the tall alabaster figure waiting for them by town hall, Twilight flexed the unfamiliar weight of her new armor. She had worked on it four days straight with Marko’s help. It resembled the Semi Powered Infiltrator armor the headhunters wore. A suit of dark purple-ish blue, the same shade as in her mane and tail, covered her body from the neck down to her hooves. Slotted over the top were the interlocking plates of light lavender armor.
Marko hadn’t cared much for the paint-job, but Twilight Sparkle had insisted upon it. Ponies seemed to like garish, bright colors. For all he knew they thought olive green was for sissies.
Each impact plate had sleek, stealthy angles like Marko’s suit, and bulwarked Twilight’s body in a way that looked cumbersome and heavy for a pony, but she moved like it weighted nothing at all. Shards of armor covered over the limbs of her wings, leaving the feathers exposed.
Her helmet hung by her side, the golden visor that covered the region around her eyes tinted over. There were very few gaps, just articulation so she could move and a hole in the forehead of the helmet for her horn.
Princess Celestia felt naked, looking down at her former student, then let her eyes drift up to Marko’s visor.
“It’s time,” Twilight Sparkle announced. They had gone over this plan plenty of times before over the past few days. It was finally time to implement it.
And judging by her expression, Celestia was still in opposition as she had been when it was first suggested. “Are you sure you two wish to do this? There is no evidence to indicate the Covenant will be back.”
Twilight nodded. “There is no evidence to indicate they’ll never return either. I have to be sure. I need to protect my home.”
Celestia frowned, lowering her face to Twilight Sparkle’s level. “Is this about protecting Equestria, or is this about avenging your friend?”
“Both.”
Celestia’s gaze dipped, then straightening up she nodded and turned to Marko. “And you, Spartan Marko? I can probably hazard a guess you agree with this course of action?”
Marko didn’t move as he answered. “You’re pretty astute for a talking horse.”
Celestia ignored the joke and continued to say, “There is no need to looking for a fight if that is what you’re actually doing. You have a place here with us.” She glanced down to Twilight again. “This could be a one way trip. You could both die.”
“Die?” Marko interjected with a mirthless chuckle. “Spartans never die. We just go to hell to regroup.”
The princess sighed and nodded. “Very well. Prepare yourselves.”
As Celestia’s horn began to glow with golden light, Marko reached back and drew his shotgun across his chest. Twilight did similar with her magic, her fully loaded MA5C hovering diagonally across her front before levitating her helmet onto her head. They chambered rounds at the same time.
Standing ready, they watched Celestia’s eyes clench with focus.
“Remember the spell I taught you that will bring you back, Twilight sparkle,” Celestia re-affirmed through the strain of the spell she was casting.
“I remember.”
Celestia’s magic intensified as she reached out across the solar system to find her target. The Covenant carrier was only just on the edge of the solar system, even after all this time. They were limping by, the tendrils of Celestia’s targeted magic could see that much. But the hull was intact, and the Covenant aboard were still dangerous as ever.
It was too late to stop it though. Marko and Twilight had made their minds. There was no stopping them, and if Celestia didn’t help them target that alien ship for one last assault they’d only find another way to pursue their suicidal endeavor.
At least this way, with Celestia teleporting them one way, Twilight Sparkle would preserve her magic stores for the fight and hopefully a trip home.
Locking the target in, Celestia opened her eyes and threw her magic forward. Rings of golden light surrounded Marko and Twilight, slowly consuming them. And in a flash they vanished from Equis.
With his forces decimated and his ship falling apart around him, Chieftain Nerbyus opted for a more traditional jiralhanae style of command.
It involved a lot of shouting.
“How many left?” the chieftain roared, buckling a corridor panel under his fist.
“Thirty, chieftain,” the jiralhanae officer reporting troop numbers said, shuffling slightly. He was joined by three other jiralhanae in crimson armor, each looking as dejected and nervous as the one who spoke. “Not counting the unggoy servants we have armed just in case. We even lost all of the engineers.”
His army of little over a thousand had been reduced to a mere handful of warriors in only a short campaign. Nerbyus braced for worse news as he considered the state of his ship.
“How are repairs to the slip-space engines proceeding?”
“The external radiation shields on sub-level six need to be replaced before we can safely pass into slip-space. However the only EVA suits left undamaged are for kig-yar.”
“Then gather some of the jackals and send them out to effect repairs!”
The jiralhanae glanced at each other awkwardly before the officer delivering the report said, “They are all dead.”
Nerbyus stood in stunned silence for a while before he growled. So his handful of crew only consisted of his higher ranking jiralhanae and a few unggoy servants. On the one hand he didn’t have to deal with the typical kig-yar disciplinary problems anymore. But on the other hand…
“Send the unggoy,” Nerbyus finally said, turning away.
“But chieftain, their pressure suits are not rated for…”
“Send them anyway!” Nerbyus barked over his shoulder, making his underlings flinch. This was a side to their leader they had not yet seen.
Gone was the calm and collected chieftain built on the confidence of hundreds of successful campaigns against the humans. That chieftain had been broken, by only two demons and a hand-full of colorful equines no less. In his place stood an impatient, cracking leader desperate to request re-enforcements from Covenant space.
The Gods had forsaken Nerbyus, he was sure of it. And as he stepped onto the bridge it seemed the Gods were only just getting warmed up.
Firstly, much of his bridge staff were hard at work on their terminals. All of them were jiralhanae, minimal armor and armaments, relying on several unggoy servants who had been armed for bridge security. It was not a nice feeling knowing their fate lay in the clumsy paws of the small sub-creatures.
A feeling that grew worse as the worst trials the Gods had to offer materialized in the center of the bridge.
It started out with a glow. Golden ribbons of light strobed up the center of the bridge. The unggoy and jiralhanae stopped what they were doing to watch in awe as the light faded…
And standing in its place were an olive green demon and a purple armored equine.
All the warriors were stunned at the sight. Particularly the unggoy standing closest to the duo trembled, completely forgetting it had a weapon trained in their general direction.
The grunt’s armor-wetting terror reflected in Twilight’s visor as she stared. The building fear turned explosive a second later as the alicorn uttered a sharp, “Boo.”
The grunt bolted screaming, throwing its needler into the air. Twilight Sparkle immediately caught the weapon before aiming both her guns towards the chieftain.
Marko had his shotgun up at the same time, but a pair of brutes leapt between them and the chieftain. They didn’t have firearms, but drew blades from their belts and held the knives ready for a fight.
Nerbyus in the meantime backed out of the bridge, claws reflexively going for a weapon that wasn’t there. “Kill them!” the chieftain roared before turning and running the other way, presumably to the armory to arm himself.
Twilight and Marko took the order personally and made short work of the bridge crew. A hail of exploding energy shards tossed one brute into the ground as her assault rifle gouged through the few grunts milling about looking for a hiding place.
Marko systematically worked his way through the brutes with each gut-churning blast of his shotgun. He prioritized them based on proximity and let them come at him, ending every one of them before they came within stabbing distance. The mending wound in his shoulder throbbed with the memory of his last encounter with a knife wielding brute. He wasn’t going to make a habit out of getting stabbed.
“Right clear,” he commented a moment later.
“Left clear,” Twilight echoed.
Dropping the needler, Twilight levitated a fresh magazine into her weapon and racked the MA5C for good measure. Only when the ammo counter told her she had ‘32’ rounds ready to deal some death did she move to the door the chieftain had escaped through.
As if sensing her presence the doors parted down the middle and slid away. Marko took cover by the opposite side, and sharing a nod the duo stepped into the corridor beyond at the same time, weapons ready.
Pausing, Twilight took the time to peer across the ship’s unusual architecture. It was like the interior of the Kraken. The bulkheads were violet; or was that lavender? Strange patterns marbled the material, like the oily sheen of a beetle’s carapace. Whatever it was it didn’t seem to look right. The low lighting hurt Twilight Sparkle’s eyes and made it hard to focus, like stumbling through a woodland in the twilight hours of the day.
The lighting flashed, red dashes strobing slowly along the ceiling. There was an alert of some kind, and Twilight wasn’t sure if it was because she and Marko were tearing up hell on board, or because the ship was going to shit anyway.
“Contact!” the pony called suddenly.
A patrol of aliens rushed around the corner with weapons drawn. It surprised Twilight how they were all brutes. They must have butchered their way through all the other species aboard back on Equestria. It didn’t change her feelings though.
Rushing forward the duo opened fire. The Covenant returned fire. Only theirs was nowhere as accurate.
Twilight worked in short bursts, peering through the small smart-scope projected alongside her MA5C’s ammo counter. She’d pepper one brute, dip the barrel to sight the next one, aim and then pepper away again. Each rattle of the rifle popped and cracked helmets, then subsequently dropped an alien.
Diving into closer range, one brute with a short rifle let loose a stream of superheated spikes into Twilight’s face. Each of them glanced away, causing a purple barrier of light to flare around Twilight Sparkle’s body.
Sweat flooded her body as Twilight struggled and exerted herself just to keep the shield raised. Short bursts she could deflect with ease, but anything sustained quickly sapped her strength. Luckily the brute didn’t seem to realize this and quickly held fire, as if trying to conserve ammo.
Cocking its weapon back, the brute lunched forward and stabbed violently with the twin bayonets affixed to the weapon. Twilight ducked sideways though letting the alien stumble past her. Aiming her rifle down, Twilight stepped around the brute then turned and emptied her mag into its back.
The brute’s armor cracked and the creature fell howling to the deck.
At the same time Marko’s shotgun gave one last roar sending a hail of buckshot over Twilight’s head. The blast caught a brute leaping onto her back mid-air, flinging the creature into a wall where it bounced before falling to the ground.
Feeding some shells into his M90, Marko led Twilight onward, checking his helmet readouts.
“I’m detecting a source of radiation down this way,” he commented, turning a corner.
Twilight switched magazines and followed to a set of doors at the end of the corridor.
They entered the next room. It was a vast space and descended three decks under them, made accessible by the crisscross bridges and gantries spider webbing across the room. A cylinder land the length of the chamber and red light pulsed along its length, like a liquid sloshing back and forth.
Ahead leaned up against one of the support struts holding the cylinder vertical was a smooth angled surface – a control panel at the looks of it. On its surface were tiny symbols; glowing green dots, bars and squares.
“This is the source of the radiation,” Marko commented. “I’m guessing it’s the slip-space drive core.”
“It’s big. It’s glowing. It looks important.”
“Let’s blow it up,” Marko said, reading Twilight’s mind.
Scrambling forward, the duo took up positions around the console and Twilight took a crack at the ciphers. It wasn’t anything like ancient Equestrian, but there were some odd similarities. Like the Covenant numerals were based around the forerunner glyphs they had encountered back on Equestria.
There was some fiddling and fidgeting and finally Twilight lifted her head a little.
“Ah! I think this is the control panel for the core’s cooling system.” She punched a glyph and a moment later gouts of steam hissed from several conduits at the top of the core. Hazard lights brightened and an alien alarm began to cry out. “Temperature climbing. I forsee exploding Covenant ship in the near future.”
“How long do you think it’ll take this thing to explode?” Marko asked, and Twilight Sparkle thought for a moment.
“At the rate of temperature climb… I give it thirty minutes.”
Looking down to a gantry below Marko spotted a response patrol of brutes moving below them, searching. “Think we have time to hunt that chieftain down?”
Twilight was already mantling over the platform’s guard rail. “Only one way to find out.”
She dropped hooves first into hell, followed closely by Marko. her wings spread, Twilight directed her body straight onto the back of one of the brutes, then holding on to the stumbling alien and riding it like a bucking bronco she brought her assault rifle and blasted two other brutes in the face while passing.
Marko fell on the last brute, snapping it’s spine with the impact, then brought his boot on its skull for good measure. At the same time Twilight levitated the barrel of her rifle into the flailing brute’s mouth and squeezed off a short burst before riding the creature to the deck.
Fire swatted their shields, identifying the next set of enemies for them. A trio of brutes on one side of the gantry sealed a door leading out of the core room, then took up defensive positions by the set of support struts holding the platform above them in place.
Further up the gantry another pair of brutes had appeared and gunned for the duo. Marko and Twilight Sparkle immediately divided to conquer. Twilight made for the two brutes assaulting them while Marko moved to uproot the aliens defending the exit.
Tucking, Twilight rolled onto her flank and surfing a spray of sparks she slid behind a support strut for cover. Ahead the brutes were just as careful, seeking out hard cover before popping up to take shots at the alicorn.
As they danced from side to side, pelting bursts of fire at each other, Marko systematically marched towards the brute’s securing the exit. His first blast dropped the first brute to one knee. He quickly pumped the next shell into the chamber and polished the creature off before aiming up slightly.
One of the brutes taking cover whipped out with a fully charged plasma pistol and let loose a wavering ball of energy. At this range it was impossible to dodge and the high yield plasma bolt clipped Marko’s shoulder. The Spartans tumbled, reeling from the blow. But at the same time he still held out his shotgun in one hand and squeezed off a shot.
The buckshot caught the brute in the throat and the gargling scream from the alien was louder than the wailing alarms in Marko’s helmet indicating his shields were dead. Normally he would have dived for cover but there was none, and there wasn’t any time.
He shifted right to sight the last brute taking cover on the opposite flank of the gantry, struggling to bring his off-hand forward to rack the next shell into the chamber of the M90 CAWS. The brute already had its grenade launcher levelled though.
The weapon let out a thud and Marko caught a bone shattering explosion in the chest. His armor felt like it cracked clean open and the force of the blow pushed all the air out of his lungs. He left the ground for a good few seconds then slammed onto his back, sliding to a halt with smoke rising from his blackened armor.
Catching the sight in the corner of her eye, Twilight backed into cover and watched him slide to a halt on his back.
“Marko!” she screamed before pushing forward though.
Breaking cover she ignored the flash of plasma evaporating against her shield and sighted one of the brutes, putting it down with a neat shot through the eye-slit in its helmet. She swiveled to the other, but it backed into cover and there would be no telling when the alien would pop out again.
Without any patience to waste, Twilight plucked a grenade from her gear and pegged it down the gantry with an under-hoofed throw. She didn’t stick around to watch what happened, but while running to Marko the sound of an alien howl following the loud thump of the explosion told her the grenade’s single mission had succeeded.
Marko had sat up in the meantime, just enough to prime one of his own grenades and throw it at the last brute. The device bounced then hit true, exploding between the brute’s feet.
Armor charred and one leg missing, the alien splattered into the deck, exposed so Twilight could put a burst into it for good measure as she slid into position next to Marko.
The Spartan reached up and grabbed one of the gantry’s railings, pulling himself into a seated position. He looked down and like Twilight Sparkle, suddenly realized the extent of the damage.
His armor had indeed cracked and split open. Second and third degree burns had boiled off the liquid-ballistic layer under the plating. The bones of his rib cage were exposed, and deeper, black congealing blood pooled.
Dropping her rifle Twilight conjured a healing spell and wrapped Marko’s wounds. He winced, then breathlessly reached out to touch her horn, stopping her. He shook his head, knowing what she knew only less afraid to admit it.
“Marko, no.” Twilight’s voice broke as she forced the words out through the lump in her throat. “Don’t leave me, Marko. Not you too. Please don’t leave.”
Marko coughed, watching his own bio-signs on his HUD. They were going crazy, which was strange. He didn’t feel different. A little winded maybe. He couldn’t even feel anything.
“Sorry… Warlock…”
“No, don’t go. Don’t go Marko. Please.” Twilight Sparkle sidled in a little closer feeling something sting in her eyes. “Marko, I’m scared.”
“It’s okay… it’s okay to be scared…” Marko’s hand bobbed awkwardly to one side, and for a moment Twilight thought he was losing motor function. But that was when he closed his fingers around the hilt of his knife and pulled the blade free. Flipping it between his fingers, he pressed the handle to Twilight’s chest. “It’s… okay, Warlock.”
Gently reaching up, she touched his hand with her hoof. Through his armor he could feel she was trembling.
His visor de-polarized, turning clear to reveal a small comforting smile under the young human’s tired eyes. “Ish and I will see you at the last rally point… Spartan.”
He let out a quiet breath and his arm turned weak, slipping from Twilight’s grip and falling to the deck with a soft clang. His head rolled forward, chin against his chest and Marko-G301 died.
Hanging her head, Twilight Sparkle let tears flood her helmet. She didn’t make a sound bar the sharp inhale between her silent sobs. The princess always knew what to do. Always knew how to approach a friendship problem. Always had a plan when it all went to shit.
She had even developed an entirely new set of skills for application when friendship didn’t do the trick. But there and there she was lost. She didn’t know what to do anymore.
Until an explosion tore her back to the real world. Blinking away tears and licking the salty water from her lips, Twilight looked up to see the slip-space core was destabilizing.
Explosions tore chunks out of the sides and gouts of flame and plasma shot from the breaches like foam from a shaken soda can.
Setting her jaw, Twilight Sparkle took a shuddering breath and looked at Marko knife in her hoof. She tucked it away into her gear. Reaching out she briefly touched her hoof to his helmet, then she turned to glare at the exit.
In the corridor just outside the sealed pressure door, two brutes glanced at each other uncomfortably. The sounds of battle inside had faded, but now the loud explosions and vibrations of the deck were starting to worry them.
Then a purple glow they didn’t know what to make of enveloped the door.
A second later Twilight Sparkle’s magic exploded, tearing the doors asunder and throwing the brutes backwards.
Galloping through the smoke and debris the armored equine swung Marko’s shotgun around in an aura of her magic, unloading a shell into the nearest brute’s head. Spinning around, Twilight levitated the barrel of the shotgun against the other brute’s chin with enough to force it up into a kneeling position.
Painting the ceiling with its brain, Twilight quickly fed the weapon some shells, knowing suddenly why Marko had favored the weapon so.
Chaos reigned inside the Covenant ship. Charging, Twilight fought her way through a maze of interlocking corridors. She lost track of the sharp turns she made. She definitely lost track of the body count.
Adding to the fray were exploding conduits, deck and wall panels fell away and geysers of steam and fire filled some of the corridors making them impassable. With ever shake of the deck, with every explosion the slip-space core inched closer to catastrophic meltdown and subsequent destruction. For a moment Twilight thought she might die on that ship, because there was no way in hell she was leaving before she beat the brute chieftain to death with her bare hooves.
Finally after what felt like hours of running and gutting the sporadic little parties of disoriented brutes, Twilight sighted her target.
Chieftain Nerbyus had descended into a calm, like he had suddenly accepted this would be his fate. He was facing Twilight a she approached him in an empty corridor. One hand rested on the hilt of his mighty hammer.
“This ends one of two ways, fuck-face!” Twilight screamed, halting in front of him, just beyond his hammer’s reach. “Either I walk out of here, your teeth hanging from a string around my neck, or I die with my hoof down your fucking throat!”
Nerbyus huffed, drawing the hammer from his back and transferring its weight into a two-handed grip. “Come then, vermin. Have your resolution.”
Twilight cocked the shotgun loudly and charged with a scream.
Nerbyus let her come, waiting until the last moment before swinging his hammer around. The weapon swept horizontally, but Twilight ducked in time and pressed the shotgun to the chieftain’s abdominal armor.
The gun let out a roar and the brute stumbled backwards. The armor breached, blood streaming from the holes the blast had left, but it was only a scratch as far as Nerbyus was concerned. He let the force pushing him back from the pony work to his advantage, swinging the hammer up in one hand then bringing it straight down on Twilight.
The princess quickly rolled to one side to avoid and the weapon buckled the deck plates where it landed.
A shockwave emanated from where the hammer struck and plucked Twilight from her hooves. She was flung sideways hard enough that she bounced off the wall when she made full contact.
Slumping to the deck, Twilight quickly found her hooves and locked onto the chieftain again. He found his balance again and raised the hilt of the hammer defensively, searching for an opening to strike at Twilight again.
She didn’t give him the chance.
Leaping sideways, the pony slammed her hooves into the nearest wall and bounced off, propelling her like an armored bullet at the brute. Her front hoof hooked around and caught Nerbyus in the side of the face. The blow caught the chieftain entirely off guard and forced him to pirouette.
As the brute was falling, Twilight Sparkle’s body corkscrewed and she raised a hind leg, catching the alien in the face again with an armored hoof.
Nerbyus crashed into the deck as Twilight landed lightly beside him. The chieftain wasn’t out of the fight though. Scrambling on all fours the brute roared and tackled the princess.
She landed hard on her back, feeling pain shoot through one of her wings as it folded awkwardly under the heavy angles of her armor. Her gasp for breath was her last for the moment as the brute brought the shaft of his hammer down and pressed it under her chin and against her throat.
Twilight gagged, struggling to breathe as pain lanced through her throat. The building pressure of blocked blood vessels only pressed harder on her crushed windpipe and made her head spin. Black borders formed around her vision as her sight tunneled.
She tried to push off with her hooves but the brute’s weight was overwhelming. Grinning wickedly, Nerbyus threw more of his weight on the hammer. Twilight felt something pop and she closed her eyes though.
Swimming in darkness, she focused her magic as best she could. It wasn’t easy without knowing which way was up. But somehow – be it luck or just a lifetime of practice with magic – she managed.
A purple glow caught the hilt of Nerbyus’ hammer and he looked down with some surprise. Slowly but surely the hilt of the weapon started to rise. A rush of air whistled into Twilight’s lungs as she gasped for breath.
A second later Nerbyus noticed a similar glow settled around the sidearm holstered under the alicorn’s wing.
The weapon came free and let loose three shots into the brute’s head. But each bullet only cracked the chieftain’s helmet. But in his hasted to back out of the way, Twilight was able to levitate the hammer up higher and lift the heavy alien off her.
Nerbyus tugged at his weapon, but despite the alicorn rubbing her sore throat and still catching her breath, Twilight Sparkle’s grip was firmer than his.
The pommel end of the shaft swung up and hit Nerbyus in the side of the head. As he stumbled the shaft levelled and the hilt drove forward, cracking the chieftain across the throat.
His time to gasp and choke, Nerbyus felt his grip slip from the weapon and he could only watch in horror as Twilight’s magic swung the business end of the weapon. It made contact with Nerbyus’ head a second later.
Time seemed to slow as the brute was lifted off his feet and thrown sideways. His head was turned with whiplash velocity as the cheek-bones making up the alien’s facial structure splintered and buckled. Jaw dislocated, several splintered and bloody teeth flew through the air.
The chieftain was driven into a wall where the force of the impact re-located his jaw. He slumped to the deck and lay still, dazed and clinging to mere shreds of consciousness.
Twilight gave the alien’s gravity hammer a brief inspection, then considering it a heavy, clumsy weapon tossed it down the corridor. Opting for a more hooves-on approach, the alicorn jumped on her prey and with one hoof holding on to the chieftain’s collar she cocked back her opposite foreleg.
The armored hoof came down to make contact with Nerbyus’ face. Slowly at first, she made long drawn out strikes. Then as her fury grew, Twilight’s jabs became faster and shorter. Teeth shattered and shrapnel of bone cut the creature’s tender, pulped face.
By the time she was reducing the chieftain’s flat nose to the consistency of year-old paint that had congealed in a shed over a hot summer, Nerbyus began to laugh. Twilight thought it was pleas for mercy at first, and ignored the low rumbling sound. Then as she slowed down, muting the wet smacks of her hoof pummeling his battered and bloody face, Twilight Sparkle heard the chieftain’s chuckle rise into muffled, thick laughter.
Sneering, Twilight pulled him into a sitting position. “What’s so fucking funny!?”
Nerbyus paused for breath before he spoke. It was hard, his jaw was broken and his fattened lips poured blood. No doubt there were tooth fragments in his tongue as well. It was a miracle he was at all intelligible.
“It is over for you, puny creature.” He shook, chuckling again. “More Covenant are on their way. They will find me, and I will lead them back to your world. Your planet and its forerunner secrets will be ours!”
“Maybe. Maybe more Covenant will come and pick a fight. But consider this.” Twilight wrapped a band of magic around the brute’s throat and squeezed. “One puny creature just slaughtered your army and destroyed your ship.” A curtain of energy slid down her visor, turning the gold tint transparent as it went to reveal her daggers glare. “Imagine what a whole planet of puny creatures prepared for your return will be capable of.”
Moving her face closer to his, Twilight added, “But you won’t be coming back to Equis. You’ll be on your great journey.” Her magic reached back and touched the hilt of Marko’s custom knife, pulling it from her gear and levitating it in front of Nerbyus’ face. “In fact, I’ll send you on your way right now.”
Twilight was all over the brute’s limp body, wrapping her forelegs around his head to get a good grip as her knife plunged in and tore from side to side with brutal sawing motions. The chieftain’s body convulsed for most of the activity as Twilight Sparkle calculated the logistics of what she was performing and continued mercilessly, trying and exploring as she went.
Eventually she figured out the trick to it and with a few last sawing motions, twisted sharply and then fell away with a wet pop.
Stepping back from the chieftain’s body, Twilight Sparkle tucked the knife away and levitated Nerbyus’ severed head in front of her. Tiredly she wondered if headhunters really made a habit of doing this. It wasn’t exactly easy… or efficient. Or maybe it just required a little practice.
Pulling a face, Twilight nonchalantly dropped the chieftain’s head to the deck and gathered her magic. With a flash of purple she teleported away, back to Equestria.
And as if fate had choreographed it all, the Covenant carrier exploded literally a second later.